Texas Gov. Rick Perry met privately with potential fundraisers in Los Angeles today as he nears a decision on whether to enter the 2012 presidential race.

About 30 people joined the conservative Republican at a Century City neighborhood hotel today at an event coordinated by influential fundraiser Renee Croce, who helped raise millions of dollars for former California Govs. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Pete Wilson.

Rick Perry on an early trip to California. (Gregory Bull/Associated Press)

“She was the queen of Orange County fund raising and she has elevated herself to empress of California fund raising,” GOP consultant Kevin Spillane, who worked with Croce on Richard Riordan’s 2002 Republican bid for governor, told the Observer in 2006. “She is the gold standard.”

Perry has been traveling the nation to gauge his support among party loyalists and donors, and fashion the framework of what could become a national campaign.

Among Republicans in the contest, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney leads the money race and reported an $18.4 million haul in the second quarter. President Barack Obama’s campaign aides have told donors privately that they hope to meet or go beyond the $750 million the campaign raised in 2008.

When it comes to financing a presidential campaign “it’s a numbers game,” said investor Michael Fourticq Sr., managing partner at Hancock Park Associates, one of the hosts of the meeting with the Texas governor.

For Perry, “I think the money is there,” Fourticq said.

Perry is on a two-day swing through California, where he planned a string of private meetings. It was his third trip to the nation’s most populous state since June 12.

He declined to answer questions as he rushed into a hotel conference room, saying “I’m late already.” When he left the hotel he avoided the main entrance, where a reporter and photographer were waiting.

Perry would join a wide-open GOP field, but a key issue is whether he can raise hundreds of millions of dollars to wage a presidential campaign.

–This report was written by Michael R. Blood of the Associated Press, with additional reporting by Rick Dunham.